faq

Why did you name your organisation PeaceWise?

Is PeaceWise part of Peacemaker Ministries?

No – although we share a close mutually supportive ministry relationship with Peacemaker Ministries, we are a fully independent Australian ministry. Our legal structure is that we are a company limited by guarantee.

How is PeaceWise funded?

PeaceWise depends upon its supporters to continue to build the ministry of reconciliation. Whilst its training events and resource sales do provide some revenue, it is only through the support of donors that we are able to offer the range of services and ministry which we do.

PeaceWise is a registered charity with the ATO, receives no government funding and is a not for profit Christian ministry. We are also accredited by CMA, so you can be confident that your support will be used wisely.

If we make a specific purpose appeal and some or all of the money raised cannot be applied to the original purpose for reasons beyond our control (for example the appeal is oversubscribed or undersubscribed), it is our policy that the money unable to be used for the original purpose will be used for the general objects of PeaceWise at the discretion of the Board.

Does PeaceWise have any full time paid staff?

Everyone within PeaceWise does so with a strong servant heart for the ministry of reconciliation in people’s lives. There is an element of sacrificial service involved in being part of the PeaceWise ministry team.

As such, we have no full time paid staff.

All the Board and our Company Secretary devote their time to PeaceWise for free, other than Bruce Burgess our National Director, who is paid a relatively modest remuneration for his work within PeaceWise.

Both of our administrative staff are paid an hourly rate for their work done for PeaceWise.

PeaceWiseKids has engaged two people to work on the project, one as Project Manager (3 days per week) and the other as Content and Curriculum Adviser (1 day per week)

Can I book PeaceWise to come and do a training event for my organisation, or is the national training programme the only option?

Yes – you can book us to come to you! Learn more about what’s involved in dedicated training events.

Is it cheaper to go to the national training or to organize a dedicated training event?

There are normally significant per individual savings if you book PeaceWise to come to you. Learn more about what’s involved in dedicated training events.

I’ve done other training in conflict resolution. Why do I need to do PeaceWise’s courses from the beginning before I can move on?

The short answer…

Many people have found what they have learnt just from the one day training to be both new and life-changing. It’s simply not to be missed if you truly want to learn how to respond to conflict differently using a genuinely Christian and biblical approach.

The long answer…

The biblical peacemaking principles taught in our one day training are unlike those which appear in secular training, and also differ from those found in most other Christian training as well. All courses from conflict coaching and above build very specifically upon, and depend on a knowledge of, the principles and skills taught in each prior course. This applies both in terms of the biblical and theological framework supporting what is taught, but ALSO acquiring the skills to use in higher training (eg. for conflict coaching it is vital to understand the concept of ‘idols of the heart’, for mediation it is vital to know how to conflict coach parties in preparation for the joint mediation session etc).

I can’t attend a training session that I registered for – can I obtain a refund?

You can transfer your registration free of charge to another person at anytime before the commencement of the training, as long as the replacement delegate is of the same registration fee level or lower than yourself, they are qualified to train at the training level for which you are registered (ie have done all pre-requisite training) and full details of the replacement delegate are provided before the training

Cancellations must be notified in writing to PeaceWise by email or phone. If you send an email, you must confirm by phone with PeaceWise that the email has been received in order for the cancellation to be valid.

Cancellation fees will apply as follows:

• Up to 1 month before the first day of training booked, no charge applies.

• Between 1 month and 1 week before the first day of training booked, 50% of fees will be refunded.

• Unfortunately, if you cancel within 1 week of the first day of training booked we are not able to provide any refund unless exceptional circumstances apply (eg. family bereavement).

Is GST included in your training fees and resource prices and can I get a GST-compliant tax invoice?

If I’ve done mediation training with PeaceWise, can I call myself a “PeaceWise mediator”?

If you do our mediation training, you will be able to use what you have learned immediately in helping others in informal mediation contexts – eg. church, work, family, friends. For certain people who do our training who are identified by us as having particular gifts and aptitude, we may raise with you the possibility of being involved in actual PeaceWise cases either to observe or ultimately to mediate.

However, if the situation is only that you have attended our training, then to say “I’m PeaceWise trained” or “I’m a PeaceWise mediator” can give people the impression that you are in some way accredited by PeaceWise, or that a mediation is being administered by PeaceWise, when this is not the case. An analogy might be to attend St John’s first aid training and then to say you were an official St John’s aid officer.

We have had some rare cases where parties thought that they had “official” mediators provided by PeaceWise when this wasn’t true, the case went very badly, and we were unaware the case was taking place. This caused unjustified damage to our reputation and left the parties badly served by someone without the necessary experience or skills for the case in question. It generally hurts the mediator too – because taking a serious case without proper experience and backup can leave a mediator badly affected too.

So, we want to avoid this outcome for everyone.

If you have only attended training, then the best way is to tell people your actual background and experience. This may include saying you have done a PeaceWise mediation training course, however please do be clear about whether you are operating privately or whether the case is an official case operating under PeaceWise’s supervision.

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